Summary: Brussels - Links between the Polisario Front and the
development of terrorism in the Sahel are multiplying and the collapse
of the movement feeds the activity of Al Qaeda branch in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM), the Brussels-based the European Strategic Intelligence
& Security Center (ESISC) said Thursday.

Brussels - Links between the Polisario Front and the development of
terrorism in the Sahel are multiplying and the collapse of the movement
feeds the activity of Al Qaeda branch in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the
Brussels-based the European Strategic Intelligence & Security Center
(ESISC) said Thursday.

"While this hypothesis initially reflected the simple fear of
excesses of the Polisario, every day it becomes a bit more concrete, to
the point where now there is a consensus among analysts regarding the
security situation in the region," said ESISC in a report entitled
"The Polisario Front and the development of terrorism in the
Sahel."

"One of the major elements which motivated members of the
Polisario wishing to join the ranks of AQIM or other armed Islamist
organisations has been the fact that these groups try to target the
Kingdom of Morocco, the same country that the separatist propaganda has
taught them to hate since their childhood," ESISC noted.

The report illustrates with examples and studies the diversity of
links existing between the Polisario and the AQIM, underscoring that
"the fact that some active members of the movement are on the
lookout for supplementary revenues, like mercenaries who seek to make
money from their past experience in military structures of the Sahrawi
independence movement, can slip into terrorism after likely passing
through various forms of trafficking."

Criminality, particularly arms and drugs trafficking which have
developed in the region for the past several years, has thus appeared to
many Sahraouis to be the only viable prospect for the future, according
to the centre.

"The diversity of the paths which lead to terrorism is just
one more proof of the advanced state of decomposition of the Polisario
Front more than thirty-five years after its creation," the report
said.

"It also illustrates the complexity of the security issues of
the region, where it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish
terrorists from traffickers of all varieties," ESISC added.

This collusion between terrorism, arms and drugs trafficking, and
former or present members of a decomposing pro-independence movement has
facilitated the development of what is presented by the Institut Thomas
More as a "hybrid industry of abductions," which, thanks to
payment of ransoms, finances terrorism and the activities of AQIM in the
entire region, the same source said.

ESISC underlined that "for several years now, we have seen a
certain interest on the part of AQIM for the Polisario Front, which has
become one of the main manpower pools for recruitment by the terrorist
organisation." The centre said that young and idle Sahraouis could
allow themselves to be seduced by the ideology of AQIM, adding that
"powerful terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb are expert at detecting persons showing signs of vulnerability.
Thus, the camps of Tindouf represent a potential gold mine for
recruiters from groups like AQIM." "If we also take into
consideration the ideological void left behind by the bankruptcy of
Marxism-Leninism to which the Polisario held claim, then we easily can
understand that radical Islamism may be for some a substitute for the
pro-independence fight," the report noted.

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